Preservation
Articles
“Resource Stewardship: Guarding the Essence of Your Byway,” America’s Byways Resource Center; Vistas, July/August 2004
Visual: Resource Stewardship
Becoming a Byway Steward
Resources are the core of your byway. Initially, those resources draw individuals representing different groups together to define the corridor and create a management plan. Resources also give root to a byway’s agreed-upon values. Resources represent the intrinsic qualities that define a byway for designation purposes. Unfortunately, as byway groups move on from the initial stages of CMP preparation and designation the resources often get left behind. Tangible items that can be inventoried and categorized suddenly have very emotional strings attached to them. Byway groups find themselves in the uncomfortable world of local politics with little or no control over those very resources.
By their nature, byway groups represent many backgrounds, interest groups and geographic points along a particular corridor. More than likely, no one person is in control of all of the resources along the byway. Nor is it always appropriate for byway groups to tell another entity how to manage something.
How does a byway group made of volunteers who have no regulatory control properly oversee the longevity of irreplaceable resources that together comprise the character of the byway? The answer may lie in understanding the nature of stewardship. Webster’s Dictionary defines steward as “one who is called to exercise responsible care over treasure entrusted to him/her.” The definition includes careful management and implies the ability to envision a hoped-for future.
Identifying the Essence
Step away from the group dynamics, funding searches and everyday issues of your byway group and ask yourselves the hard questions… what is the real essence of our byway? What about this corridor drove our group to seek designation? Those elements are the ones that your group has taken the responsibility to care for.
Recognizing the character or essence of a place is different than a list of individual parts. A firm handle on the essence of your byway - it’s significance - shows you where to concentrate your efforts. For instance, a byway group may not like a new bridge proposed by the local Department of Transportation; the real essence of the byway is a rugged and utilitarian corridor that has supported the travels of many individuals in to the wilderness. The bridge neither detracts nor adds to the character. The bridge then becomes less of an issue than removal of access to those wild areas.
Keep It Simple
Remember the “little candy with a hole in it”? It wasn’t a collection of round red, yellow, green and orange candies in a nice wrapper with pretty colors. That could be any candy if you think about it. It was very clear from the start what defined the Lifesaver.
Can you convey the character of your byway to a stranger in two sentences or less? If it takes you more than two sentences and you list all the “flavors,” chances are you are still focusing on the parts and not the whole.
Predict Change
Change is inevitable and nothing stands still. One key to effective stewardship is the ability to predict what will happen to your byway over given periods of time.
Take a Comprehensive Inventory
In order to clearly find the essence, it is important to view your byway from both an overall and detailed perspective. This is not guesswork, but a reflection on the direction of change you observed from your inventory and a realistic look at external forces affecting your corridor. Once you have a clear picture of what the future holds if you do nothing, you can put together a prioritized action plan to maintain the essential character of the corridor.
How far into the future has your byway group looked? Can you predict what will happen to the corridor in 10 years, 20 years or 50? Prediction is different from a strategic plan or vision. Prediction is what will happen if you do nothing. A vision is what you wish to happen and a strategic plan is how you will implement your vision.
Schedule Regular Reality Checks
Revisit your byway’s corridor management plan. Does it need to be updated to reflect what you predict will happen and who your partners will be? Does your strategic plan revolve around issues that sustain the character of your byway or are there elements that are taking more of your group’s time and really not benefiting the character of your byway? What do your marketing products communicate? Are they communicating a message about the essence of the byway or merely a list of the various things to do and see? Remember, your byway was designated for its distinction and intrinsic qualities, not the twenty-some individual attractions and shops.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!
The process of inventorying, predicting and planning will not alone overcome the last major hurdle to stewardship for your byway’s resources - determining who manages what and how. The only real solution for that hurdle is communication. Communicating the very essence of the corridor gives all interested parties a common platform. Once all parties recognize what really creates your byway’s feel and character, everyone can agree to work toward maintaining those qualities rather than feeling like personal interests are threatened by perceived definitions of the byway.
When your byway organization looks ahead at the future, a number of outside groups and entities will either affect the change you have predicted or be directly impacted by it. Recognize these groups and make a plan to include them in your efforts. Collectively agreeing on a vision for the future and acknowledging the negative outcomes of not working together lays the groundwork for dozens of positive possibilities and opportunities. Remember, it is unlikely that any one person will oversee all the resources defining your byway’s character, however communicating the essence to the many groups that do have influence can yield powerful results.
That is a true act of stewardship.